THE first reservations have been made for a hotel in space - but you won't be checking in just yet.

Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas, Nevada - a nascent space tourism company owned by hotelier Robert Bigelow - has reserved slots on two Russian Dnepr rockets, which are converted SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missiles. Each rocket will launch a scaled-down prototype of the company's inflatable space habitat into low-Earth orbit later this year. The launch dates cannot be divulged because the use of an ICBM means the information falls under US arms trade restrictions.

The full-size version, based on an abandoned NASA design for an inflatable space station called TransHab, is expected to provide 330 cubic metres of living space with a 30-centimetre-thick multilayered polymer and Kevlar hull to protect against space debris. The one-third-size prototype will in part be testing the ability of the compacted form to expand like a concertina when deployed. "There has never been a system like this in microgravity and we need to know if it will work," says Mike Gold of Bigelow.

An inflatable spacecraft designed to test technology for a future space hotel is to be launched from Russia on Wednesday.

The walls of Genesis I are made of a tough carbon-fibre material designed to withstand the impact of micrometeorites and space debris. And Genesis I will carry 13 cameras, which will take pictures and video of the Earth and the spacecraft itself, including personal items floating inside.

If Genesis I is a success, Bigelow will launch a second test craft called Genesis II later in 2006. The company is offering people the chance to send up photos or other objects on Genesis II for a few hundred dollars per item.
Orbital ferry

Genesis I is one-third the size of a proposed space hotel that is based on an abandoned NASA concept for an inflatable space station called TransHab.

7/12/06: A Russian Dnepr rocket carrying the Bigelow Aerospace pathfinder mission Genesis I has successfully launched from the ISC Kosmotras space and missile complex in the Orenburg region of Russia.

July 12, 2006

BREAKING NEWS

Genesis I Mission Update

5:20 PST
Bigelow Aerospace has received confirmation from the Genesis I spacecraft that it has successfully expanded.

We have also confirmed that all of the solar arrays have been deployed.

4:15 PST
Bigelow Aerospace mission control has begun to acquire information from the Genesis I spacecraft. The ISC Kosmotras Dnepr rocket has flawlessly delivered the Genesis I into the target orbit of 550km altitude at 64 degrees inclination. The internal battery is reporting a full charge of 26 volts, which leads us to believe that the solar arrays have deployed.

The internal temperature of the spacecraft is reported to be 26 degrees Celsius and we have acquired the spacecraft's Global Positioning System (GPS) signal that will enable us to track the ship in flight.

We have initiated communication with the ship's onboard computers and expect to download more information over the next few hours.

Genesis I should remain in orbit for several years, where it will be monitored to see how it fares. And, with any luck, onboard cameras will send back snaps of the cockroaches and jumping beans to see whether they survived the launch.

Bigelow has already laid plans for the launch of Genesis II this autumn. Although he's not ready to send up people, he will be sending their photographs: you can send your picture into space for US$295.

And in the long term, Bigelow is setting his sights on a US$50 million race to build an orbital vehicle capable of carrying seven astronauts by the end of the decade.

We have extracted from early quick look data a low resolution thumbnail image of the Genesis I vehicle which verifies the success of vehicle inflation and solar array deployment. At this point in time, the vehicle is happy and healthy.

Launch of Genesis I Pathfinder Ushers in a New Era of Commercial Space Development

The privatization of space took a giant leap forward on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 as Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas successfully launched its pathfinder mission—Genesis I. The private sector has now entered the space race; it will be actively involved in what was formerly the exclusive domain of large governments and the telecommunications industry. The future is looking better for the private sector to begin a new chapter in the development and business of space.

As the first privately funded space pathfinder module was being launched into space, a tense and expectant silence was the only sound in the Mission Control center of Bigelow Aerospace's sprawling complex in North Las Vegas. Mr. Bigelow and his entire staff, from engineers to office workers, looked on and listened with bated breath to a jury-rigged communication link with Bigelow staff in Russia.

Live From Russia
As the team at Bigelow Aerospace anxiously watched and listened, the only sound in the Mission Control center was the exuberant voice of the company's corporate counsel, Mike Gold, describing the launch of the Dnepr rocket carrying Genesis I from on-site at the ISC Kosmotras space and missile complex in Russia. From the Mission Control monitors to the managers, and from the security guards to the housekeepers, all had to hold back their ultimate celebration until word came in that the spacecraft was successfully delivered into orbit.

"You can imagine all the pent-up joy and enthusiasm the team was experiencing, but we had to maintain absolute silence," said mission Program Manager Eric Haakonstad. "It was frustrating to no end."

From the technical side, the launch of the Russian Dnepr rocket went off flawlessly. The same cannot be said for the visual transmission of the launch back to mission control. Gold's screaming commentary saturated the voice line to the point that for the latter stages of the launch, he wasn't heard from at all. With personnel in Nevada already sitting on pins and needles of nervousness, excited personnel in Russia tipped over the camera beaming back images to Las Vegas. They never tipped it back up.

"What we were seeing in mission control was watching the audience say, 'Look, I see it!'" said Haakonstad. "It was so exuberant that there was no way for us to get a voice in and say, 'Hey, fix the camera.'"

Gold, who was on site in Russia, was giving a play-by-play to the crowd at Las Vegas Mission Control. Despite working 20-hour days for the week leading up to the launch and getting little sleep, his exuberance and enthusiasm were infectious. As he described the launch, the people in Mission Control collectively cheered. 14 minutes later, when confirmation arrived of a near perfect delivery and separation, the mood in mission control was exuberant. Mr. Bigelow and Haakonstad, looking at the screens while standing on the floor of Mission Control, were more subdued than the rest of the crowd. Now was the critical juncture of this endeavor: establishing command and control of the spacecraft. For that, they would have to wait.

"We felt fairly confident in Kosmotras and the Dnepr's ability to get us into space." said Mr. Bigelow, "and they performed above and beyond expectations, but once the vehicle separated, it was time for us to do our part and all we could do is wait for the chance."

The Waiting is the Hardest Part
After the initial euphoria of the successful delivery and separation, Mission Control once again grew silent, as the Bigelow Aerospace team waited for the chance to establish contact with the Genesis I. That wait would be a wait of hours, rather than minutes.

While the long lull was expected between the spacecraft's confirmed separation from rocket 14 minutes after launch to the first communication with Genesis I, that expectation did little to calm the nerves at Mission Control. Little did the mission staff know, but as the expected first contact with contractor SpaceQuest approached, the SpaceQuest facility in Arlington, Virginia, was having some serious problems, and it looked unlikely that they would be able to initiate contact with the Genesis I.

Las Vegas, We Have a Problem
Just as the anticipated time of SpaceQuest's contact with the Genesis I was approaching, a major storm caused power outages in much of the Arlington area. SpaceQuest, which was to receive the first communication from Genesis I and relay it to Las Vegas, had no power. Now, there was a little more than 30 minutes before SpaceQuest controllers were supposed to hear a cry of life from the Genesis I, but there was no life in the receivers in Virginia.

SpaceQuest engineers were in a bind. They had 30 minutes to find a way to get power and receive first contact from the Genesis I. As SpaceQuest engineers scrambled for a solution, one noticed that there was light in a restaurant across the street, which still miraculously had power. Desperate for power, they got all the extension cords they could find and went across the street to ask for help. The restaurant owner agreed to help and SpaceQuest had power.

"They ran the cords across the road to get power from the restaurant," Bigelow said. "Cars were driving across the cord as it powered their computers and receivers."

Even after power was restored, there was another major obstacle to overcome: the automatic system that allowed the antenna to automatically move into position to listen to the spacecraft was not functioning properly due to the power outage. Time was running out, and SpaceQuest engineers now would have to manually steer the antenna themselves to receive the signal.

First Contact
Bigelow Aerospace Mission Control Center in Las Vegas was anxiously awaiting word from SpaceQuest in Virginia, Spacequest was desperately attempting to manually position there antenna to receive Genesis I's signal and receive it they did—loud and clear. As that message was relayed cross-country to Las Vegas, Mission Control erupted into exuberance.

Although the wait was expected, it didn't make it any easier. At 2:09 pm PDT—more than six hours after the 7:53 am PDT launch—the Genesis I called home and indicated that not only was the pathfinder demonstration space habitat functioning perfectly, it was being well-fed off its deployed solar panels.

For Bigelow, a dream first drawn out when he started Bigelow Aerospace in 1999 had become reality. While many looked to Bigelow to see his emotion upon the first contact with Genesis I, Bigelow was actually looking to the more than 120 employees that had gathered inside and just outside Mission Control.

"I saw emotion on a lot of folks' faces. People were just joyful and teary-eyed. We just had a lot of emotions going on," says Bigelow, who also saw the downward spiral of adrenaline the morning after the launch. "I would characterize it as the day after a battle. You have the walking wounded, those missing in action, and we have people not up here because they were up all night."

Genesis I Calls Home
"It was unbelievable. Everybody cheered. I can't believe that this day is finally here and then an unprecedented success! Everyone just wanted to cry," said Kathy Miller, Contract and Purchasing Manager for Bigelow Aerospace, who has worked for Bigelow for nearly eight years. "Unless you were really here from the beginning and went though the pain and uncertainty, you couldn't possibly understand. In the end it was all worth it."

Creating Genesis I was literally like giving birth to a baby for Mr. Bigelow and the employees of Bigelow Aerospace. After eight years of planning, the actual creation and delivery into space took only nine months. As of last October, Genesis I was only a drawing on paper, only a concept. From that time to the July 12 launch, the spacecraft was constructed, tested on the ground and taken to the launch site and mated to its rocket in Russia. What makes this feat all the more incredible is that in a span of only six months while the spacecraft was tested and constructed; a 40,000 sq. ft. addition to the Las Vegas plant—including the entire Mission Control facility—was built.

Few have watched Bigelow Aerospace and its spacecraft grow up like Cindy Nowicki, who joined BA in 2000 when it had just around 10 employees.

"I watched it grow from a very small company. I didn't think we would get to this point this quickly," Nowicki said. "It was nice to see Mr. Bigelow fulfill his dream. You could see it and almost see tears come to your eyes, seeing someone do what they set out to do."

The Future Looks Bright in Space
In the days before the launch, engineers and managers, led by Bigelow himself, tempered any expectations—practically expecting some degree of failure. As later passes confirmed that Genesis I had fully expanded its outer shell and all systems were functioning, the feeling of success began pouring in.

"This is like getting your first at bat in the major league and hitting a Grand Slam" said Mr. Bigelow with obvious pride in the accomplishment of his company. "We have accomplished so much and it's just the beginning."

"As well as this was, this was not the expected outcome. This was better than the expected outcome," says Haakonstad, who still tempers the expectations for the launch of the next space habitat—Genesis II—this fall. "We shouldn't get spoiled by these scenarios. We'll need to take the good with a bad, but it does set a high expectation for the next event. We're at the start of something great here."

The July 12th launch on a Russian Dnepr (SS-18) rocket of Bigelow Aerospace’s experimental Genesis module is another step in the ongoing evolution of the space tourism industry. One has to give the Russians credit for turning what were once their most feared ICBMs into moderate to low-cost space launch vehicles. The Genesis module was delivered into the right orbit with an accuracy of about 400 meters, which suggests that the old US estimate of the SS-18’s accuracy was correct. It seems that the launch took place from an operational silo; the implications of this are a subject for a future article.

The most important aspect of this so-far-successful mission is that it shows that the space tourism industry is not only developing vehicles for suborbital and eventually orbital flight, but that future space tourists will have a place to stay when they get up there